St. Paul woman found wrapped dead in woods was bound, police say

St. Paul police in an alley near where Rahel Nigusse's body was found June 21. (Pioneer Press: Mara H. Gottfried)

A woman's hands were bound and a pillowcase had been placed over her head when her body was found in a wooded area in St. Paul last month, according to a police affidavit filed recently.

The Ramsey County medical examiner's office said that Rahel Nigusse's death appears to be from natural causes at this point, and police have said a man is being investigated for moving the 39-year-old woman's body.

The medical examiner is waiting for more test results before signing off on Nigusse's death certificate, said Lori Hedican, chief investigator.

The affidavit, which police filed to obtain a search warrant for the man's apartment, provides information not previously released about the condition of Nigusse's body.

When Nigusse was found June 21, she "was completely wrapped in a baby blue blanket with the blanket tied in knots at both ends," according to the affidavit. "The bottom of the blanket had drag marks that had worn through the material," leading authorities to believe the body had been dragged for some distance, the affidavit said. Nigusse's back also showed abrasions consistent with being dragged.

The woman's "hands had been bound above her head with a red necktie" and her "head was covered with a yellow pillowcase that was secured tightly around her neck by a pair of olive green socks," the affidavit said. A white, bloodied towel was over Nigusse's face. Nigusse had abrasions to her eye and was bleeding from the mouth and nose area, the affidavit said.

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The St. Paul woman took insulin for diabetes and struggled with alcohol problems, her brother has said.

While the case is under investigation, a spokesman said police would not provide additional information about how or why Nigusse's body came to be in the condition it was in.

Police arrested a man that Nigusse knew, John Richard Stanton, on June 23. Nigusse's body was found behind Stanton's apartment building in the 1400 block of East Minnehaha Avenue.

Stanton, 64, was released from jail, pending further investigation. Stanton told a reporter on Tuesday that he didn't have time to talk.

Prosecutors will be asked to consider charges against Stanton for allegedly moving Nigusse's body, police have said.

Nigusse's death is the second that police investigated recently in connection with the same Minnehaha Avenue apartment, which is about a quarter-mile from Johnson Parkway.

Stanton's wife, Towanda Harris, was fatally stabbed in the couple's apartment in May, and Harris' former boyfriend, Willie James Chestnut, is charged in the death. Before the stabbing, Chestnut, 54, was visiting and drinking with other people at the apartment. He has pleaded not guilty.

Stanton told police he saw the stabbing, the criminal complaint against Chestnut said.

Nigusse had been in the apartment before Harris was killed, left in a panic when Harris and Chestnut were arguing, and was with Chestnut when he was arrested nearby, the complaint said. Chestnut was Nigusse's boyfriend, the search warrant affidavit said.

Police reviewing crime-scene photographs from Harris' homicide after Nigusse's death saw a baby blue blanket folded in Stanton's closet, the affidavit said. The color and border "are consistent" with the blanket that Nigusse was wrapped in, police said in the affidavit that was written before Stanton's arrest in connection with the Nigusse case.

Richard Chin contributed to this report. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.